The longest CS:GO matches played on LAN

As soon as the overtimes start to pile up in a professional game, the same questions keep coming up: "Isn't this the longest game ever played? No? Then which one is it?"

To try and set the record straight, we've attempted to list the longest matches (actually, maps) in CS:GO history, taking into account three conditions:

• they were played on LAN (unlike the 46-42 between XENEX and exceL, often cited as the longest match in CS:GO history, which was played online);
• they were played at the highest international level, not in an obscure Slovakian league (but we still take the opportunity to say hello to the Louvard Game);
• they have exceeded 60 rounds, which corresponds to at least two maps played in one, and allows us to make a rather efficient sorting so we don’t end up with a hundred matches on our hands.

Now that you know everything, let's see the matches involved!

1) PixelFire 41 - 38 DenDD / PGL Minor Europe (January 30th 2016)

• 79 rounds / first map of the Bo3
• Durration of the map : 3h05 (including a 25mn interruption at 25-25)
• See detailed stats of the match

PixelFire flash DeadFox maeVe tabu BARBARR

DenDD BENDJI DUMAS zende berg cype

We have to go back to the very first European Minor, in 2016, to find evidence of the longest map played in CS:GO history at the top level. PixelFire and DenDD face off in a decisive pool match to see who will make it to the playoffs. The day before, PixelFire destroyed their opponent on Cobblestone, 16-2. This time, things turn out a little different. It takes more than three hours and five MR5 overtimes (five rounds played on each side before switching) for Mirage, chosen by PixelFire, to find a winner.

It should have been finished much earlier, but DenDD is unable to conclude despite... 18 map rounds. An unexpected and unsual number. The Swedish-Bosnians first lead 15-5, then 20-19, then 25-20, then 30-29, then 35-34, without ever managing to score the round that would have ended Mirage. berg’s keyboard still remembers all about it.

PixelFire buckles down and concludes on its third opportunity, in the fifth OT. "Towards the end, we tried to take more risks. Not because of fatigue, or because we were getting weaker, but simply because we were out of ideas and each team knew more or less everything the other was doing. So we tried some crazy stuff, which sometimes worked and sometimes didn't" said Zende about the match.

Even the server couldn't keep up, crashing at 25-25 and causing the admins to reset the scores at the end of each half. As a result, PixelFire didn't explode with joy in the final round, not being entirely sure they had completed the marathon until an admin confirmed it in person.

After midnight, Mirage finally ended, more than three hours after the first pistol round. And both teams naturally moved on to Train, the second map of their Bo3. At its wit’s end, DenDD couldn’t do anything to come back and logically lost 16-5, leaving to PixelFire the slot in the final tree of this Minor, and the title of winner of the longest match in the history of high level CS:GO on LAN.

2) NAVI 37 - 34 AGO / ESL Pro League S15 (March 30th 2022)

• 71 rounds / second map of the Bo3
• Duration of the map : 2h31
• See detailed stats of the match
  

NAVI s1mple electronic Perfecto B1T headtr1ck

AGO Furlan F1KU leman MWLKY ultimate

headtr1ck will remember his stint with the big names for a long time: the NAVI Junior member, called up to the main team to replace Boombl4, tested positive for Covid-19, has found himself in quite a quagmire. In this ESL Pro League group, NAVI is the favorite and AGO the underdog. Their confrontation is supposed to be short, and the first map confirms it: 16-1 on Dust2 for the East-European players.

But on Mirage, the Poles wake up after a strong start on defense, 7-0, and then five rounds of attack to take off at 14-9. At 15-13, NAVI avoids an early defeat by saving the two map rounds, and then overtime madness begins. Like two metronomes, the two teams go on a 2-1 run, sometimes on CT, sometimes on T, without either of them ever losing their momentum.

It’s not until the seventh overtime in MR3 that AGO finally shows a crack. At 35-34, s1mple (65 kills on the whole map) and headtr1ck win a 2vs4 that sounds the death knell for their victim of the day. The match ends in the next round with smiling NAVIs, relieved to have come out of this fight safely. The shortest jokes are always the best.

3) Ninjas in Pyjamas 36 - 33 EnVyUs / CCS Finals (April 24th 2015)

• 69 rounds / second map of the Bo3
• Duration of the map : 2h08
• See detailed stats of the match
  

NiP friberg Xizt f0rest GeT_RiGhT allu

EnVyUs NBK shox SmithZz kioShiMa Happy

Used to facing each other in this first half of the 2015 season, NiP and EnVyUs gave their longest performance at the CSS Finals, a $75,000 event that also featured fnatic and TSM. On Dust2, the second map of their match, the two rivals push to the 69th round, never (or almost never) leaving more than a round's difference between them: 14-14, 19-19, 24-24, 30-28 for NiP.

In the fourth OT, in MR5, the ninjas score four rounds of attack. Enough to dig the necessary gap and conclude a few minutes later, after more than two hours of battle. With this, the Swedes caught up to one map each after losing Cache, and then finished the job on Mirage, 16-11. EnVy then fell into the loser bracket and lost directly to fnatic, concluding their tournament in the final top 4. NiP met the same fate in the next round, leaving fnatic to challenge (unsuccessfully) TSM in the grand final.

3) TYLOO 36 - 33 VG.CyberZen / PGL Asia Minor (October 30th 2016)

• 69 rounds / second map of the Bo3
• Duration of the map : 2h24
• See detailed stats of the match
  

TYLOO Mo DD Summer somebody AttackeR

VG.CyberZen tb Savage zhokiNg advent LOVEYY

69 rounds is also the total reached by TYLOO and VG.CyberZen at the Asian Minor in the fall of 2016. The two great competitors of the Asian scene meet for a match of the utmost importance: the winner gets his slot for the Major qualification, played in the United States.

Everything seems to be going well for VG: the first map of this match is won 16-13 and the second one goes well as zhokiNg's line-up leads 12-6 in CT on Cache. But then TYLOO wakes up and starts its comeback. Three match rounds are saved at 15-12, two of which are 1vs1 wins by somebody and Summer. VG lets go of three more rounds of victory during the overtime, in MR5, until its opponent also starts struggling to conclude and take the win.

The fourth overtime is finally the right one. TYLOO accelerates one last time on T side to take Cache. Cobblestone, the third and final map, also turns in its favor, much to CyberZen's dismay. CaptainMo & Co. thus secured their place in the Major qualification, where they did not achieve any feat, settling for a victory against Cloud9 and three defeats against OpTic, mouz and EnVy.

5) Gambit 36 - 32 Rebels / StarLadder Minor CIS (January 22nd 2016)

• 68 rounds / first map of the Bo3
• Duration of the map : 2h03
• See detailed stats of the match
  

Gambit Dosia hooch wayLander mou AdreN

Rebels fix CyberFocus spaz spiker electronic

The Minors are definitely a good place for extended games. A few days before PixelFire and DenDD in Europe, Gambit and Rebels had extended their lease on Cobblestone a little longer than expected during the CIS Minor. The two teams battled for 68 rounds, letting the horses loose in the overtime after two timid initial sides.

The map is mostly a duel between two strong men, two future Major winners, mou on one side and electronic on the other. The first one finishes the game at 69 frags and +27, the second one at 73 frags and +24, while only one other player on the server, AdreN, painfully exceeds 50 eliminations. After Cbble, Gambit and Rebels have another close duel on Inferno, the second map of their match, also won by Gambit, 16-14.

Rebels tries to take revenge in the grand finale of this CIS Minor, but this time Gambit probably had things planned for afterthe game: the match is rushed through by hooch’s men, 16-03 / 16-04. A few hours earlier, they had already conceded the most incredible comeback in the semi-final against Method, from 14-1 to 14-16 on Train. They were probably fed up with these 30+ round maps.

6) NAVI 34 - 32 Cloud9 / ESL One Cologne 2017 (July 8th 2017)

• 66 rounds / Bo1
• Duration of the map : 2h35 (including a 10mn interruption at 27-27)
• See detailed stats of the match
  

NAVI seized GuardiaN Edward flamie s1mple

Cloud9 n0thing shroud Stewie2K Skadoodle autimatic

Americans and Russian speakers meet in a communist-era train station and beat the crap out of each other for 66 rounds. That's basically the summary of this NAVI - Cloud9 confrontation taking place during the swiss round of the ESL One Cologne 2017. A match that NAVI seemed to have in hand after their successful T side, but C9 proved that they also has the resources when it came to planting bombs.

So everyone ends up on the OT platform and boards the “this is gonna take time” train. They exchange pleasantries, GuardiaN and Skadoodle offer a nice sniper duel, seized keeps pouting in his compartment and does not exceed 24 kills on the whole map. NAVI wins anyway after holding up their last defense.

A few days later, C9 take their revenge in the semi-final, without going through overtime or Train, but still on a close call, 16-13 / 16-14.

6) fnatic 34 - 32 FURIA / DreamHack Masters Malmö (October 3rd 2019)

• 66 rounds / Bo1
• Duration of the map : 2h42
• See detailed stats of the match
  

fnatic KRIMZ JW Brollan flusha Golden

FURIA arT yuurih KSCERATO VINI HEN1

Overpass for a long game is basically the icing on the cake. The map is large, with many neutral areas that often take time to control. Each round often takes a little longer than on other maps. Multiply that by 66 rounds and you get a 2 hours and 42 minutes fight.

At first, FURIA seemed to be on the right track. In this decisive pool match - the winner goes to the play-offs, the loser is eliminated - the Brazilians score ten rounds of attack on the map they have chosen, and add the pistol round on the second side. But fnatic use the power of Deagles and CZs to make the forcebuy and restart the map. The firepower of the Krieg (what a great meta that was) works in favor of the terrorists and 15-15 is finally reached.

The OT continues on the same trend with a clear advantage on T side. On seven occasions, FURIA gets the opportunity to finish the job. Seven times, fnatic keeps resisting, despite flusha not giving his best performance on this day, only 29 frags. Brollan and KRIMZ do the work and finally break through the Brazilian defense three times in a row to win.

As is often the case in these situations, the team that has lost the first map after a hard-fought game has no mind at all for the second. "Do you know the mental strength it takes after a loss like that? Those are the most terrible ones. If you lose 16-3, you take a deep breath and pick yourself up. But when you're so close to winning, when you put so much energy into staying alive, that's when it hurts the most. Because all the adrenaline goes away with no reward. You have nothing to celebrate. You're just disappointed" HenryG explained in 2016 after casting the infamous PixelFire - DenDD encounter.

So FURIA ends up dropping Inferno 16-5, and fnatic obtains its slot in the final tree. The Swedes will then get rid of NiP, Astralis (with a 25-23) and Vitality (with a 19-16) to lift the trophy of this DH Masters at home. Quite the journey.

8) Heroic 34 - 31 EnVyUs / DreamHack Bucarest (September 16th 2016)

• 65 rounds / Bo1
• Duration of the map : 1h53
• See detailed stats of the match
  

Heroic Friis MODDII gla1ve valde Snappi

EnVyUs NBK Happy apEX kennyS DEVIL

EnVyUs and Heroic have an appointment with each other to start this DH Bucharest 2016. The French have been going through a dark period since the beginning of the season, the Danes, on the contrary, are getting stronger. And on Mirage, these facts are confirmed on the first side: 12-3 for Heroic. Carried by a very efficient apEX - DEVIL duo, nV recovers in defense and comes back after being down 5-14, then 12-15.

In overtime, the match rounds pass without anyone managing to conclude. After almost two hours of playing, Heroic finally makes the difference on a final 2vs3 win on B bombsite. "We lost all the clutch rounds and we sucked as a team. With real teamplay, we would have won" apEX lamented after the match. A good summary of EnVy’s entire year 2016.
At least, the lesson was learned for this tournament: the next day, for the rematch, EnVy showed a much better face and won 2-1, thus going to the play-offs and leaving Heroic on the sidelines.

9) VeryGames 34 - 30 NAVI / Mad Catz Vienna (February 14th 2013)

• 64 rounds / first map of the Bo3
• Duration of the map: 1h47
• See detailed stats of the match
  

VeryGames Ex6TenZ NBK SmithZz kennyS ScreaM

NAVI ceh9 starix markeloff Edward Zeus

Flashback to this 34-30 score at the Mad Catz Vienna 2013. At the time, VeryGames is already competing for the title of world number 1, although it has just made a change by calling ScreaM to replace RpK, during his first retirement. On the other hand, NAVI is making its first outing on CS:GO in Austria, after having been slow to leave the good old 1.6, to which the Ukrainians had remained faithful until the previous fall. But its reputation is obviously not to be done in the world of Counter-Strike.

Nothing was determined in advance for this quarter-final, and Mirage confirms it. Two exemplary defensive sides set the tone for the match, then a flawless litany of 2 rounds in CT / 1 round in T occupies the field for five overtimes. After 60 rounds, VG has had enough of the back and forth, and finally gets more than one round in attack to break away. SmithZz then manages a 1vs2 retake to end it all. The Franco-Belgians then stand up and shout "f*ck!" at the top of their lungs. They will then lose Dust2, 11-16, but will win Inferno 16-14 to continue their journey, which will be stopped in the semi-finals by the Danes of Anexis (MSL, Pimp, Nille, Nico, gla1ve).

With 1h47 of playtime, this (old) Mirage may seem quite short considering the number of rounds played. But two things should be taken into account: at the time, the timers in the game were shorter (1:45mn for a round against 1:55mn today; 35 seconds for the bomb explosion against 40 seconds today), and the teams generally had a less developed styles than nowadays, which also helped to speed up the game.

9) CR4ZY 34 - 30 Astralis / StarLadder Major Berlin (August 31st 2019)

• 64 rounds / second map of the Bo3
• Duration of the map: 2h05
• See detailed stats of the match
  

CR4ZY huNter LETN1 EspiranTo nexa ottoNd

Astralis dupreeh Xyp9x device gla1ve Magisk

A nice surprise at the StarLadder Major Berlin 2019, especially thanks to their victories against North and fnatic at the UE Minor to get there, CR4ZY rub shoulders with the ogre of the scene, Astralis, during the swiss round. The clash on Dust2 is thrilling. Astralis takes the lead at 9-6 and 12-8, but huNter and ottoNd use their firepower to stay in the race. At 15-14, the Danes have a chance to take the win, but CR4ZY's forcebuy and B split save the round. Time for overtime.

Then, everything goes haywire. A slot in a Major’s playoff is at stake, after all. In the heat of Berlin, the rounds come one after another, each preventing the other team from leaving the server. At 25-24, ottoNd saves a 1vs2 - which is arguably the most memorable move of his career - and can't help but laugh nervously.

But their nerves do not break, and CR4ZY seal the deal at 31-29. A great success that ends up being useless, since Astralis, who had previously won Inferno 16-11, does not give their opponent a chance on the last map, Vertigo, 16-5.

This map is the longest map ever played in a Major on CS:GO. It is one round ahead of two other matches that finished at 31-28: mousesports - FlipSid3 at MLG Columbus 2016, and NRG - Astralis which took place... the day before this CR4ZY - Astralis encounter, also at the StarLadder Major Berlin. Astralis had also lost, this time on Train. But hey, since the best team in history went on to win this very same Major, it seems they recovered from these two defeats pretty quickly.

11) Flash 31 - 29 HAVU / SL i-League Inv. Shanghai (November 3rd 2017)

• 60 rounds / second map of the Bo3
• Duration of the map : 2h27
• See detailed stats of the match
  

Flash AttackeR LOVEYY Summer Karsa kaze

HAVU KHRN xartE Aleksib ottoNd sergej

Another match that just barely breaks the 60-round limit is the one between Flash and HAVU at the 2017 StarLadder i-League Invitational Shanghai. The two sides are far from being among the favorites, and face each other in the loser bracket of their pool.

HAVU wins Cache, 16-1. Flash rebels on Overpass, leads 13-5 and then 15-8, but seems to think that finishing here would be a bit too easy, and that it’d be more fun to play a sextuple overtime. The Chinese keep fighting four more overtimes, and then on their twelfth map round, decide they’ve had enough, and send everyone to the third map. During this time, HAVU has had only two opportunities to conclude, without success.

The Finns did not take inspiration from their opponent since they lost on Train as well, even though they were leading 13-5 in CT. Sometimes it’s just not your day…

Thanks to Elnum for the banner and Miles for the translation.